Nordic Next-Week Power Climbs to Record on Dry, Freezing Weather

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Nordic electricity for delivery next
week climbed to an all-time high as forecasts for drier, colder
weather were poised to boost power demand and limit supply.

Power for next week gained 1.9 percent to a record 51.90
euros ($67.68) a megawatt-hour as of 3:30 p.m. on Nasdaq OMX
Group Inc.’s energy exchange in Oslo. The month-ahead contract
gained 0.3 percent to 47.45 euros, while power for the next
quarter lost 0.7 percent to 37.75 euros.

Water reservoirs used for hydropower generation are being
depleted faster than average so far this year, according to
Danish energy trading company Energi Danmark AS.

“The winter is not half over yet, and what is
traditionally the coldest part lies ahead,” Energi Danmark said
today on its website.

Nordic water reservoirs were 67.8 percent full on Jan. 6,
0.3 percent point above the median for the period from 1990
through 2006 and 8.7 percentage points short of the year-earlier
period, according to the Nord Pool Spot AS exchange.

The region’s hydropower reserves, which are 3 terawatt-hours below the seasonal average, may drop further to a deficit
of 10.3 terawatt-hours in two weeks, according to Markedskraft
AS data on Bloomberg. The region, which gets more than half of
its power supplies by running water through turbines, had a
surplus of 9 terawatt-hours as recently as the end of November.

Low temperatures in Stockholm are forecast to drop to minus
9 degrees Celsius (16 Fahrenheit) on Jan. 16 from minus 1 today,
according to CustomWeather Inc. data on Bloomberg. That compares
with a 10-year seasonal norm of minus 3.

Starting March 25, the Nasdaq OMX Group will offer yearly
power contracts 10 years into the future as well as euro-denominated Norwegian-Swedish electricity certificates, the
company said today in an e-mailed statement. Currently, the
Nordic exchange offers yearly forward contracts for the next
five years.